Always Faith in Love
by Frayed Misfit
Summary: This is a LilyJames chapter fic challenge! How could Lily let herself fall for James Potter idiot extraordinaire? This question plus more are answered in this delightful fic. Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Anything that relates to JK Rowling's ingenious creation 'Harry Potter' is in no way mine, nor do I claim to own it, which would be sheer stupidity.

**Author's Note: **This fic is a response to a challenge set by CubanSombreroGal, in which I must include a certain instruction in each chapter, this chapter's instruction is: Must include their first kiss. That doesn't sound too difficult! This fic will span the marauder's 7th year. I hope you all enjoy!

**Chapter One. **

Lily doodled lazily on a side piece of parchment, her eyes slightly unfocused; her mind certainly not on Professor Binn's droning hollow voice. She was generally quite good at History of Magic, although since returning to Hogwarts after the summer, her mind had been wandering more and more and she was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Her mind seemed to be a paper plane that a certain someone had shaped into a glider, so that it floated aimlessly on a soft autumn breeze. She found her lack of motivation and concentration particularly frustrating but at the same time could do nothing to stop it. It was particularly frustrating because she was now Head Girl and was suppose to be setting a role model performance as a gifted student and a trustworthy listener. Yet from the moment she stepped foot into the prefect's compartment on the Hogwart's Express and seen James Potter with a rather pale face and a Head Boy badge pinned to his robes, nothing had been the same. It was like walking into a dream, and the fog still hadn't lifted three weeks into the semester, James was still Head Boy, although his face was slightly less pale.

They were forced to do everything together: hold prefect meetings together, tutor students together, patrol the corridors together, place notices up together, award student's detention together, eat meals together, together, together, together. All this togetherness was driving Lily into a slight state of insanity. The most frustrating thing though, was that James Potter was being quite the gentleman about the whole situation, he hadn't even asked her out for the entire time, he didn't pinch her bum, he didn't try to sneak love potions into her coffee, he didn't even make stupid remarks about her 'endless beauty'. It was the strangest thing, and Lily couldn't quite get her head around it all. She was angry at him for not being Remus, who should have been Head Boy because he had been her fellow prefect and who she enjoyed conversing with. She was angry that he was being so nice all the time, listening to her with a polite smile, holding the door open for her, making her coffee when she was tired. She was angry at Dumbledore and the way he _knew_ that she hated it and the way he looked at her as if he knew she could handle it. But she was angry mostly at herself, at the way she smiled at James in return, at the way she laughed at his jokes, and at the way she actually enjoyed his company. She was angry at the way she was slowly falling in love with him. James Potter, the boy she had always sworn to dislike, the boy she thought she had absolutely nothing in common with, the boy who thought he was just so good at everything. James Potter, her equal, her friend, her little crush. It was all so ridiculous.

Startled out of her ponderings by the lunch bell and the students around her that was packing their things away, Lily stood up. Had she really just made those absurd conclusions in her paper plane mind? Mentally hitting herself over the head she joined her fellow classmates in the corridor, finding herself once again next to James Potter.

"I didn't see you take a single note in that class Lily, it was most un-studious like of you!" James said, falling into an easy step beside her.

"Hmm I think I might be getting sick" Lily muttered, lifting her green eyes to his hazel ones, unable to procure a sensible answer.

"Come on then, I'll walk you the hospital wing, Pomps will have a nice disgusting tasting potion for you I'm sure."

Unable to control her feet she found herself nodding and walking with her loathed enemy towards the hospital wing. They were quite alone, everyone was by now in the Great Hall munching on lunch. Lily became painfully aware of just how deserted the corridors were, just how close James was, just her nice he was being. Taking sneaked glances towards him she noticed how nice his cheekbones were, and the angle of his chin was quite pleasing. Stopping up short she stood horror stuck.

"I think I'm quite ill."

James paused too, clearly alarmed at how odd she was behaving.

"It's just a little bit further; do you think you can make it?" He had placed a hand on her shoulder, it felt warm and fuzzy.

"I think I need to sit down." Lily lowered herself down the stone wall, trying to work out her muddled mind; she was falling in love with James Potter. He was making her feel dizzy, it wasn't the heat, or the boring class, or the fact that she was quite hungry, it was him. He was making her feel that way and as hard as she tried, she couldn't stop it.

James stooped down next to her, his warm hand still on her shoulder, she was painfully aware of it now, they way it almost fit there.

"Geeze Lily you look a bit pale! Should I go and get Pomps and you can just wait here? I won't be long." James was clearly completely unsure of how to act.

"No, I'm fine" she lifted her eyes again to his; startled at how close they were, their noses were almost touching. She felt a slight spasm in her stomach, she felt warm and cold. Her eyes moved to his lips, the amazingly close lips, they were just sitting there, so wonderfully red.

"I just need to …"

Without thinking of the consequences, Lily closed the distance between them and planted her lips firmly and decisively onto his. She could almost feel how surprised James was, yet his mouth did not for a second leave hers, he took her head in his hands, tangling his fingers in her hair, pulling her closer into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling her own hand move into his hair. It felt like a dozen blissful years before they pulled apart, Lily moving a hand to her tingling lips. James let out a little noise, perhaps it was a sigh or an exclamation, Lily couldn't really tell.

"Blimey Lils, you should feel sick more often!" James let out a little awkward laugh; she could feel his breath on her face, clinging to her eyelashes.

Lily let out a little giggle in return before wrapping her arms around him again, pulling him onto the floor beside her.

"Shut up and kiss me again!"

**Author's note: **wow, I can't believe I just wrote something so fun and uplifting! I generally write angsty soulful stuff, I just had to add this little author's note to let you all know how surprised I am at myself. Please review, it really does put sunshine in my life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Anything that relates to JK Rowling's ingenious creation 'Harry Potter' is in no way mine, nor do I claim to own it, which would be sheer stupidity.

**Author's Note: **Ok, firstly I'm so sorry for such a late update! I totally forgot about this fic, in between finishing My Own Way Home and writing my thesis! This chapter will include numbers 2) and 3) of Cuba's challenges. That means it will include a **Sirius who is either drunk or high on caffeine **and in which **someone will get hugged by the Giant Squid.** It is completely and utterly ridiculous, so be warned!

**Chapter Two. **

James broke hesitantly away from Lily's kiss, the reality of what was happening finally hitting him. Lily, the unobtainable girl that he had been dreaming of since that first day on the Hogwarts Express, had just kissed him. He hadn't even initiated it, it wasn't even because he had forced love potion into her goblet, and it wasn't even because he himself had swallowed a cauldron fall of Felix Felicis. It was just, well, he didn't know why.

Shifting into a more comfortable position beside Lily, James arched a single eyebrow, turning to face her.

"Umm, wow, so yeah, cool, ok. I just have one tiny little inconsequential question; why did you just kiss me?"

Lily looked horrified, her hand was at her lips, her eyes were slightly unfocused, and James wondered whether she was still sick. He was just about to ask when she answered, turning her blushing cheeks towards him.

"I think I've always wanted to kiss you, I just never realised until today." Lily let out a timid laugh, she spoke as if what she was saying was new to her as well, "although I still can't believe I just did that."

James grinned, repeating her words in his head '_I've always wanted to kiss you_.'

"I can't believe you did either!"

He took a glance into her eyes, they were wide with an emotion he had never seen captured there before, his face was starting to ache from the maniacal grin that was plastered on it, and he could not remember ever being so happy.

Lily grinned foolishly back at him, her stomach fluttering like it was full of butterflies, her head spinning dangerously.

"Lils, I know I've said this like a hundred times, no actually, a thousand times, and it may mean nothing to you anymore, but," James took a steadying breath, "will you be my girlfriend?"

As he spoke the words, James was amazed at how different they felt coming at this moment, at this place when they had both shared something phenomenal. He felt Lily's hands take his and give them a gentle squeeze.

"Yes, James Potter, I will."

James threw his arms around her in an enthusiastic manner, holding her close to him like he had always wanted. He heard her mutter into his hair;

"And I can't believe I said that either."

------------------------

Sirius, Remus and Peter let out identically loud cheers before James' vision was completely obscured by his friend's flying bodies. He had just announced to them, in what he assumed was his most serious voice, that Lily Evans was now his girlfriend and that they had spent the entire lunch hour snogging. James felt himself falling onto the floor under the weight of three teenage boys; they were all making loud and unidentifiable noises, which reminded James of girls screaming over the English Quidditch Captain at the recent World Cup.

Finally the noise calmed down enough for James to hear Sirius exclaim, "How the bloody hell, in the name of Merlin, did that happen Prongs?"

While Remus screeched, "I never thought I'd see the day!"

And Peter ran in wild circles around the dorm chanting, "He did it! He did it! He did it!"

James took an elaborate bow before slumping down on his bed and relating the entire story to his fellow marauders. When he had finished he was met by an array of stunned faces.

"Well let's not just stand here! Let's celebrate!" Sirius chimed, leaning forwards to mess up James' hair before dragging a large crate from under his bed and throwing a dusty bottle from its depths to each of the boys.

Sirius stood on his bed, raised his bottle of firewhisky and began his speech:

"Fellow Marauders, now is the appointed hour! Today is the day of Prongs' amazing good fortune! Prongs has now achieved his life long goal, his mission on this Earth is now compete. I would like you all to lift your bottles and join me in congratulating him, not only his persistence in this matter but for his amazing good-looks and his ability to snag one of the hottest girls in the school."

He paused for dramatic effect, grinning like a fool, before chanting like the rest, "To Prongs and his amazing good-looks!"

It wasn't long before the entire crate had been emptied of its alcoholic contents, and the four boys were sitting on the floor amongst an array of emptied bottles.

Remus gave a little hiccough, placing a heavy hand on James' shoulder, "You're myyyyy hero." He slurred, drawing out the 'my' for a ridiculously long period of time.

James laughed like a mad-man, his head thrown back at an almost impossible angle, as if Remus' words were the funniest things he had ever heard, James wobbled to his feet in reply, unable to form comprehensible words through the never ending stream of laughter.

He pointed dramatically out of the window before running towards it, standing on Sirius' hand in the process, which the latter did not even seem to notice, as he was singing a loud and crude song involving a whore and a warlock with one leg.

James gestured wildly at the Great Lake, its depths a deep and inky black in the looming dusk.

Peter finally understood what James was trying to say, he wobbled to his legs, his hands stretched out, under the impression that they could steady him from falling.

"Great Lake! Swim! Us!" Peter mouthed in a strangely high-pitched voice.

As his words hit the ears of the others, they all rushed to the door as if an unspoken agreement had been made in Peter's four words. They stumbled as quietly as they could through the empty castle, everyone was in the Great Hall eating dinner, they held onto each other in a great chain of stumbling limbs and muttered words, Sirius continued to sing in a low voice.

Remus mimed a tip-toeing action and pointed to the open front door, his hand dramatically drawn across his lips. James hit Sirius on the arm, pointing to the actions that Remus was making, Sirius giggled.

Nonetheless, they made their way unnoticed into the grounds, Peter running ahead of them with his arms stretched out like a giant bird. Sirius threw his arms around Remus and James, pulling them close to him as he stumbled towards their destination.

They reached the Great Lake's banks as the last of the sun's rays disappeared behind the Forbidden Forest. James picked up a giant stick and began prodding innocently into the water. Remus and Sirius had taken off all their clothes besides their boxes and had begun to move in a dancing fashion into the water. Peter was sitting on the edge of the lake, unable to undo his shoelaces, he was muttering fiercely and kept shooting jealous looks towards Remus and Sirius.

James' stick hit something rather hard, he poked it harder. Intrigued at the way the stick bounced back in his hand after it hit the thing in the water.

He shouted at the others, 'lookie, lookie! The stick, its touchin somethin in da lake!"

Remus tried to signal that this was not a good thing by waving his hands in a negative motion and shaking his head. Peter looked up from his shoelaces, seemingly intrigued. Sirius continued to move into the water, bobbing his head around like as if he was at a Heavy Metal concert, oblivious to everything around him.

James moved the stick harder and harder into the object in the water, unaware in his intoxicated state that the stick was actually getting shorter.

Remus managed to let out a drunken "No!" before the Giant Squid lurched itself out of the water and engulfed James in its tentacles.

Peter leapt to his feet, clearly horrified, Remus rushed towards the bank and his wand, scrambling in the mud and reeds. Sirius, still oblivious, began to swim into the lake, turning onto his back and humming to himself.

James let out a roar of laughter, wrapping his own arms around the squid's revoltingly slimy body. "Lookie! Lookie! It loves me!"

Remus stared in mid-motion, his foot raised in the reeds, Peter scrambled back towards the castle and Sirius floated innocently on his back. The Giant Squid seemed to have had enough and promptly let go before submerging itself back into the lake. James was covered in a putrid brown slime, although his face shone radiantly.

"Yay! It hugged me! Did you see that! He he he!" He laughed like a child, pointing to the place where the squid had disappeared.

Sirius floated towards them, suddenly aware that James was speaking.

"Huh? Waz everyone talkin bout? Waz goin on?"

Remus hung his head in disbelief; this was certainly a night to remember.


End file.
